Never Alone
by AlexanderCastle
Summary: A week after she is shot at Captain Montgomery's funeral, Kate calls Rick and he comes out to her father's cabin where she is recovering. Slight spoilers for Knockout/Rise. AU. One-shot.


**So this is AU, set shortly after the Season 3 finale. Beckett's been shot, she's broken up with Josh, Castle's told her he loves her, she told him she doesn't remember. Those things are still the same. However... She broke up with Josh before meeting with Castle that day (and Castle knows this), Mr Smith never asks Castle to keep her away from the case, and... well, you'll have to read it to find out. **

**For those incredible, extraordinary, frustrating, maddening, people, without whom this would never exist. Thank you.**

**Disclaimer - Hahahahahaha. No, I don't own them. I do in my dreams though.**

-Kate Beckett-

It's 9 in the morning by the time she finally plucks up the courage to pick up her cell-phone, and she hesitates for half a minute to wonder whether he'll even pick up, whether or not he'll be asleep at that time, but she still finds herself calling him anyway. "Hello?"

His voice is calm, with its usual undercurrent of warmth. Despite the pain, she can feel a slight smile grace her lips, and she somehow feels a little better. Before she can bring herself to stop, she whispers his name. "Castle…"

Her own voice is much shakier, filled with the pain she has tried to escape by leaving the city. Trying to escape the nightmares that disrupt her sleep and have haunted her relentlessly ever since Captain Montgomery's funeral. Trying to escape the nightmares where she watches her partner die right in front of her eyes. When her partner next speaks, his voice is far more concerned, and she knows that he has recognized her. "Kate? Is something wrong?"

She can barely keep the sob from her voice as she responds. "I've had nightmares, every night since I came out here. Bad ones, every single one of them. You end up dying. I can't lose you, Castle. You're far too important to me for that to happen. God knows what I'd do if I were to lose you, especially the way I feel about you…"

She knows that, right now, this is the best she can give him in telling him that she loves him too. She also hopes that he picks up on this and realizes that she remembers what he said to her before she blacked out that day at the funeral. His voice softens immediately. "Kate, where are you?"

"My father's cabin…"

"Just relax. I'll be there soon. I love you".

She can hear him talking to Alexis in the background just before he hangs up, probably telling her what's going on, and she can feel a small smile spreading across her face again. He really does love her.

**~A few hours later~**

She can hear the sound of his car pulling up in the driveway of the cabin where she is recovering, and she has to restrain herself from running out to greet him, hugging him as if she'll never let him go, and pressing her lips against his. _Why on earth did I think it would ever be possible for me to go three months without calling him?_ She asks herself. The sound of his car door opening and closing echoes in the quiet summer air, and his voice follows a couple of seconds later. "Kate?"

She looks up from where she's sitting on the swing chair on the cabin's porch, a smile spreading slightly across her face as her partner slowly makes his way towards her, laptop bag in one hand and another bag slung over his shoulder. "Hi".

She gets unsteadily to her feet to greet him, swaying slightly on the spot as he steps up onto the porch and over to her, wincing slightly in pain as he wraps his arms around her and kisses her forehead gently. "Hi" he breathes back.

_If only we could just stay like this forever… If only time would just stop and I could remain here, always, content and safe in the arms of the man I love_ she thinks to herself, before realizing exactly what her thoughts have just referred to Rick as. _The man I love? Did I really just… I guess I did. Sure, I like him. Sure, I've fantasized about kissing him, and possibly even more. Sure, I'm in love with him… But… I'm in love with him. I, Kate Beckett, am in love with Richard Castle. _After several minutes, during which neither of them say anything, Rick finally pulls away from her. He sighs softly, before grinning at her. "This is a beautiful place".

She nods, seating herself carefully on the swinging chair once more, angling herself to rest her head on his shoulder as he sits down next to her. "We used to come up here all the time, just my parents and I. Every summer, my parents would take the next three months off of work, and we'd just… we'd just get out of the city, you know? No thoughts of work or school. There was never anything to stop us from enjoying ourselves for the summer. And now I'm up here and I feel so damn weak that I can't even enjoy myself" she says finally.

He sighs softly, subconsciously, gently slipping an arm around her waist to hold her in place. "For what it's worth, Kate, I'll always be here for you. I'll never, ever, leave you alone".

Ignoring the pain in her chest, she snuggles closer into his warm embrace. Eventually, she can't help but to speak. "You were right, you know. About what you said in my apartment that night".

"Kate…"

"Please, Rick, just let me finish. You need to hear this".

To her surprise, the use of his first name causes him to shut up immediately. She takes as deep a breath in as possible before continuing. "When you said that I've lived with my mother's murder for so long that I'm afraid to see who I am without it, and that I'm so afraid of getting hurt again that I hide myself in nowhere relationships with men I don't love. Will, Tom, even Josh… None of them were ever the right one for me. Sure I liked them, but I think deep inside I knew that those relationships were always going to be doomed to fail. They never felt… they just never felt right, you know?"

He nods. "Yeah, I do know. That's how I felt with Meredith. And Gina, for that matter. But not when I'm with you. I love you, Kate. I really do"

Despite her injuries, she lifts her head to his, brushing her lips across his own softly. He returns the gesture, arms supporting her easily as they kiss, and, as they part, she breathes the truest words she has ever spoken to him. "I remember everything from that day, Rick. And I have to tell you that I love you too. Because I do, I truly, honestly, do".

They lay there contently for about half an hour, simply enjoying the safety and warmth of each other's arms, before Rick finally speaks. "So, we're really going to do this? Really going to try a relationship?"

Kate smiles again as their eyes meet, her hazel to his blue, and nods. "We are indeed. And if our partnership for the past three years has been any indication, we're in for a lot of fun".

The writer nods in agreement, pressing one more chaste kiss to his new girlfriend's forehead and smiling in satisfaction. "I couldn't agree more".

And as the detective drifts into a peaceful sleep, she thinks about how lucky she is to be in the arms of the man that she loves, and how glad she is that she is never, ever, going to have to lie to herself about what she really wants out of life again. Because, now that both of them know how their partner feels about them, they are never, ever, going to be alone.

**Go ahead and Review.**

**Edit - My note about italics was pointless, and has been removed.**


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